Cantonese
Sino-Tibetan family · Chinese branch · Eurasia
Cantonese is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Front Rounded Vowels, WALS codes Cantonese as “High and mid”, a value held by 23 of the 562 languages coded, Tibetan (Standard Spoken) and French among them.
On Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb, WALS codes Cantonese as “Oblique-verb-object (XVO)”, a value held by 3 of the 500 languages coded, Mandarin among them.
Of its word-order pairings, the one Cantonese shares with the fewest languages is Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: “More than one adposition type with none dominant”, the value of 58 of the 1,184 languages coded.
The least common value coded for Cantonese is “Marked by following word” on Adjectives without Nouns, held by 7 of the 124 languages coded.
Contrast Cantonese with Mandarin or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Cantonese, rarest first.
- Indefinite PronounsSpecial indefinites22 of 326
- Definite ArticlesNo definite article but indefinite article45 of 620
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a nominal plural affix19 of 261
- Coding of Nominal PluralityNo plural98 of 1,066
Inside the Sino-Tibetan family
Cantonese matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 44 of the 78 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (56%). Among the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, that rate ranks 13th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Cantonese; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Cantonese for 78 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 69 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Cantonese shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 13
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tone | Complex tone system | 88 of 527 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Syllable Structure | Moderately complex syllable structure | 274 of 486 |
| Lateral Consonants | /l/, no obstruent laterals | 388 of 567 |
| Glottalized Consonants | No glottalized consonants | 409 of 567 |
| Presence of Uncommon Consonants | None | 449 of 567 |
| Uvular Consonants | No uvulars | 470 of 567 |
| Absence of Common Consonants | All present | 503 of 567 |
Word structure 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Little or no inflectional morphology | 141 of 969 |
Nouns and pronouns 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | One-th, two-th, three-th | 41 of 321 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are obligatory | 78 of 400 |
| The Associative Plural | Special bound associative plural marker | 48 of 236 |
| Indefinite Articles | Numeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article | 112 of 534 |
| Distributive Numerals | No distributive numerals | 62 of 251 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers | Formally similar, involving interrogative expression | 43 of 116 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Unrelated | 100 of 225 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical | 94 of 168 |
| Number of Genders | None | 145 of 257 |
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | No gender system | 145 of 257 |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | No gender system | 145 of 257 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses | Weakly differentiated | 15 of 138 |
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are different | 125 of 301 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Evidentiality | Separate particle | 65 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| The Perfect | Other perfect | 80 of 222 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Other | 91 of 240 |
| The Past Tense | No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction | 88 of 222 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 101 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 112 of 222 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | No suppletion in tense or aspect | 123 of 193 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives | None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material) | 153 of 193 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
Word order 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant | 93 of 659 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 141 of 824 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 685 of 1,249 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial | 615 of 902 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Mixed | 40 of 378 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 82 of 297 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| Reciprocal Constructions | Distinct from reflexive | 99 of 175 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation | Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation | 170 of 206 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Words derived from Sinitic cha | 110 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |
Other 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks | Clicks may express affective but not logical meanings | 71 of 143 |